Questions From Anon

Apologies to the readers but I haven’t had the time to trade over the last few days so I haven’t updated the blog. My new job is still taking more of my time than I expected but, hopefully, it will settle down shortly.

I had a question posted on my “Mixed Strategies” post which I endeavored to answer in the reply box. But the answer started to get far longer than I anticipated so I thought it would be a good idea to answer in a new post. That gives me an excuse to update the blog and it might be a good test of my knowledge.

I would appreciate comments from anyone on how they think my answer suits and whether I have answered appropriately. The questions were…

“Having only been trading for 2 weeks now what advice could you give someone in my position who hasn’t been on Peters course. And how do you define a good or bad trade.”

My answer is…

Hi Anon

Glad you like the blog and apologies for not updating over the last few days but I haven't been able to trade since the last post.

Whether I'm the right person to ask advice from is debatable as I am at the very beginning of my journey but I am happy to comment on your queries.

For people just starting trading here are 4 points, in no particular order...

Don't run before you can walk! Start with minimum stakes to see how you get on. You won't win a great deal but you shouldn’t lose much either. As your confidence grows then increase the stakes you trade with, slowly.

Get to know the software you decide to use, I'd recommend Bet Angel but there are others so find what suits you best, most trading software comes with some kind of trial offer.

Study the markets and watch what happens at different times. In essence you could "throw in" trades at any time as very often you will learn more by a loss than a win.

Be disciplined in your approach. Discipline doesn't really need explaining, you will understand what is meant when you trade.

Now, perhaps a harder question, my take on what defines a good or bad trade…

A good trade is when you do everything right for the current conditions, whether there is a profit or loss at the end of it. If you do everything right then most of the time you will see a profit or, at worst, a very minimal loss.

A bad trade is when you break the necessary disciplines. You will find, in most cases, these will end as losses which will be bigger than your wins. If you do all the wrong things then expect your trading bank to disappear quickly.

I hope this is of some help and feel free to ask any other questions. Like I said earlier it is debatable as to whether I am really qualified to answer some questions due to the stage I am at but I am always happy to give my take on any queries.

Anyway I hope to be trading at some point this week but, as I said at the beginning of this post my trading time has been severely curtailed at the moment.

Cheers